Jul 2009 Financial News

T&T remittances remain steady

Jul 16, 2009

Jamaica has registered a significant drop in money transfers or remittances to the island, a new World Bank report said Monday. The report, titled, Outlook for Remittance Flows 2009-2011, said the 2009 year-to-date period show Jamaica registering a whopping 17 per cent decline in remittances, the biggest drop for any Latin American and Caribbean nation.



By contrast, Mexico’s remittance receipts dropped 11 per cent, while money transfers to the Dominican Republic declined by seven per cent.



Overall, remittance to the Caribbean and Latin America is forecast to decline by seven per cent this year, the report said. However, analysts said flows to countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region are expected to level off, with a smaller decline in the second half of 2009. Experts blamed the drop on the slowdown in the US job market. Last year US$64 billion was remitted to Latin America and the Caribbean but that number could drop to 60 billion this year, World Bank officials said.



“There is a risk that rising unemployment will trigger further immigration restrictions in major destination countries. Such restrictions would curb remittances more than forecast and would slow the global recovery in the same way as protectionism against trade would endanger a global upturn,” said Hans Timmer, director of the World Bank`s Development Prospects Group. Last year, however, many Caribbean nations were largely spared the drop-off. Antigua actually saw an increase in remittance from US$24 to US$26 million in 2008 while Barbados saw its remittance rates balloon from US$140 to US$168 million.



The Dominican Republic say a slight increase from US$3.41 billion to US$3.48 billion in 2008 while Dominica’s money transfers grew from US$26 to US$30 million. Guyana and T&T were steady at US$278 and US$109 million, respectively, while Haiti increased from US$1 billion in 2007 to US$1.2 billion in 2008. Jamaica registered a growth from US$2.1 to US$2.2 billion in 2008, but Suriname was steady at US$140 million. St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines recorded US$31 million for both 2007 and 2008 while St Kitts and Nevis came in at US$37 million for both years. There were no available numbers for other Caribbean nations. Remittance has fast become the lifeline to the economies for many regional countries. CaribWorldNews

Source: Trinidad Guardian
http://guardian.co.tt/printmail/business/business-guardian/2009/07/16/tt-remittances-remain-steady
Date: 16-07-09